Smoke & Mirrors, ‘High Times’ Called Out For ‘Canna-Greed’ in Pot Shop Deal

When High Times announced an $80 million deal April 28 to buy more than a dozen California cannabis dispensaries, the storied stoner brand called out one location in particular: the emerald jewel of the acquisition spree was to be a ritzy shop in San Francisco’s Union Square.

Only one of the 13 statewide dispensaries in that deal is next to a Chanel — the 152 Geary Street location, formerly the John Varvatos store. That proposed dispensary still needs local and state permits before opening. But to its equity program-approved co-owner, whose two-year quest for Planning Commission approval finally found success in February, the Hightimes Holding Corp. announcement came as a complete surprise.

“The press notified me after the deal was announced,” shop co-owner Alexis Bronson tells SF Weekly. And since then, he says “I have not heard anything” — not from High Times, or their holding corporation.

When we talk about equity in cannabis, we usually mean representation for communities impacted by the war on drugs. In the age of Big Cannabis, large companies often have to partner with smaller, so-called “equity owners” in order to satisfy equity requirements like we have here in San Francisco. [Read More @ SFWeekly]